International flights are back! This week’s Flight Friday looks at how, finally, international commercial flights have surpassed 2019 levels.
COVID recovery, in the commercial market, now seems complete. While there are still many hangovers caused by the COVID pandemic, commercial utilization now is one to cross off the list.
Domestic flights rebounded relatively quickly post-pandemic. After China removed its zero-COVID policy in December 2022, domestic flights returned to over 100% equivalent 2019 as of January 2023, certainly helped by China. Since that time, domestic flights have generally remained above 100%, and as of May 2024 they are at 108% of equivalent May 2019 flight levels.
International flights in May 2024 are at 101% of May 2019. February 2024 was also above 100% of 2019 levels, but February 2024 had a “bonus” Leap Year day, so it’s a little inaccurate to compare on a like for like basis against 2019.
There are a few other nuances to the data, as international passenger commercial traffic is still a little off 2019 levels, but at 99.7%, it’s close enough.
With the northern hemisphere entering the busy summer months, this trend looks to continue. There are still some country pairs that are yet to return to 2019 levels—China-U.S. is a good example—so there remains a way to go to help build up international commercial flights.
This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool.
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